Photograph
by LoeyLoLo
Summary: Just a quick one-shot that I was inspired to write after listening to the song Photograph by Ed Sheeran. It is based during Season 2 after Emily is pulled from the barn by Alison. I hope you enjoy it :)


**Author's Note: Hi guys, so I was writing the next chapter for my Hand In Hand series, but got inspired by Ed Sheeran's song Photograph so I've put the chapter I was writing on hold and wrote this one-shot based. It is based around Season 2 Episode 12 and is set after Emily is saved by Alison from the barn. It's not as long as my usual pieces of work but I kind of like that it's short and sweet. I hope you like it :)**

It had been a long day for Emily Fields. Getting trapped in a barn and almost gassed to death by A wasn't on her to do list for today, neither was being haunted by Alison in her, she guesses, dreams. The whole situation was still foggy in her head, she wasn't sure what she really remembered or what she had made up. Either way, it was giving her a headache trying to figure it out. Seeing Alison, it had felt so real. The things she said and the way she acted, it was like the old Alison that Emily had fallen in love with. Not the bitchy Ali that terrorised the halls of Rosewood High, but the caring, softer Ali that was reserved only for Emily. The Ali that would tear down anyone that made Emily cry and then spend the rest of the day doing everything so could to see her smile again. That was the Ali that Emily saw tonight. It was the Ali that Emily had cried herself to sleep over, time and time again because it hurt so much to admit that she was gone.

Emily found herself sitting on her window seat with her photo album. She had sat here in this same spot, looking through these same photos time and time again. She turned each page slowly, each page filled with pictures of smiling faces and laughter. The five girls in the pictures all care free and happy, none of them had that fear in their eyes that they all had permanently etched across their faces nowadays. None of them looking over their shoulder, waiting for the next attack. Emily couldn't remember what that felt like, it had been far too long since she was so carefree. She turned to the next page, filled with more photos of the five girls. All taken in different locations, different positions, but still the same formation with Ali in the middle. Most of the time Emily was right by her side, sometimes Ali had pushed her away and she was on the end. It was those days that Emily had hated the most. The days when Alison would put those walls firmly up and push Emily away. Emily still never understood whether it was because she was playing games with her and just simply loved the attention, or whether it was because she was scared. Spencer seemed to think it was Ali being manipulative, but Emily felt that it was more. She knew Alison better than anyone, she saw the side that Ali didn't show to anyone else. There was no way that Ali was being manipulative when she was that tentative towards her in private.

Emily saw a corner of a photograph sticking out from behind another. Her eyebrows knit in confusion; she had never noticed this before. She pulled on the corner, pulling the photograph from its place to find it was a strip of photos from a photo booth. Three tiny pictures of Emily, all of them with Alison. She smiled at the memory of having this photo taken at the Mall a few years before Alison went missing.

 _'Come on, let's take a photo together' Alison suggested excitedly, pulling a giggling Emily by the hand and into the photo booth. The two girls placed themselves side by side on the bench and pulled the curtain across. Alison pressed a few buttons on the screen and popped the money into the slot before they began posing. Emily stuck out her tongue while Alison posed and stuck out her barely there breasts, breasts that Emily had recently found herself intrigued by since the blonde had started to develop and grow into a more mature body. Alison pulled Emily into her and put her arm around her, the two smiling at the camera for the next photo. Emily inhaled Alison's scent as they came into contact. It was a smell that made her tummy knot and do back flips. Emily turned to place a kiss on Alison's cheek for the next photo, but it seemed they both had the same idea, causing their lips to brush together and Emily's heart to jolt as though it was trying to break free from her chest. Alison fell about laughing, while Emily let out a nervous giggle. Their lips had barely touched, but it was like a spark had zapped through her entire body and she felt more alive than ever. She had feelings that she had never felt before and it was so confusing._

 _They left the photo booth and grabbed their photo, Alison studying each picture and critiquing it. What she liked about them, what she didn't like. When she got to the last one, she fell about laughing again. The two teens with their lips barely touching. Alison looked amused while Emily had a mixture of what looked like pain and something that Emily had only ever seen before in the faces of people like her parents, who really loved each other._  
 _'Wow, if I didn't know better Em I'd say that you have the hots for me' Alison mocked as she batted her eyelashes flirtatiously. Emily's stomach made a sudden leap into her throat at these words. She wanted to protest and tell Alison that she was crazy for even suggesting that but her throat went suddenly dry and Emily forgot how to speak._

 _'We'd make a cute couple though' Alison continued, looking at the picture again. She studied it for a minute before ripping it from the bottom of the strip and handing the rest to Emily. 'This one is for me, you can have the rest though' she offered with that dazzling DiLaurentis smile._

Emily gently ran her thumb across the ripped edge at the bottom of the strip. She never questioned why Alison wanted that photo. She wondered what the blonde had done with it and where it was now. They never spoke about it again, Alison pretended like it hadn't happened.

Outside of the Fields' house, stood Alison DiLaurentis, hiding in plain sight as she always was. She had to come and make sure that Emily was ok. She wished she hadn't had to run when she did, she had wanted to stay with Emily so badly but she couldn't risk being caught by the others. Alison had been pretty good with keeping her distance, but when Emily was in trouble she had to jump in. She had told herself that she would get Emily out of the barn and run, but the second she had the brunette in her arms, she knew she couldn't leave her. Not yet. Not without feeling those lips against hers one last time. She had meant it when she had said that Emily was the hardest to leave. So hard in fact, that she had practically been stalking the other girl from afar just to see her face again. Alison knew what was going on with the whole A thing, and she hated that Emily was in the middle of it. She could see the toll it was taking on the other girl. As time went on, Emily looked more and more worn down and now Alison could clearly see the pain and exhaustion written on the brunette's face. She vowed that she would make this psychotic stranger pay for what they were putting Emily through.

Alison watched as Emily pulled out a strip of photographs. She couldn't help but smile, knowing exactly what photos they were. She had never forgotten that day that felt like an entire lifetime ago. The day they had accidentally kissed for the first time. The day that Alison felt that electric spark for her best friend who she had been struggling to determine her feelings for long before that day. It was the day that she felt like the whole universe had stopped moving, just long enough for her to realise that she was in love with Emily Fields. Looking back now, Alison wished she had just admitted how she felt, instead of spending the next two years pushing away the girl who made her feel like she had a life worth living. The girl it pained her to push away, but was so afraid of what it meant to be in love with, that she couldn't stop herself. Emily Fields was her girl and Alison had made a promise to herself that if she made it out of this alive, then she would fight through hell and high water to get her.

As she stood watching her beauty from afar, Alison stuck her hand into her back pocket and pulled out her own tiny, square photo. She smiled sadly at the photo of her and Emily, their lips barely touching. She had spent many long, lonely nights looking at this picture. It was what gave her strength to continue fighting, hoping that one day she would come home to her girl. Hoping that when that time came, Emily would welcome her home with open arms. Hoping that Emily would love her back the way she had spent, what felt like a life time, loving her. Hoping that they could share all those kisses they should have shared, but without the pain and angst of the very few kisses that they had shared. Hoping that one day, she would get to look into those beautiful brown eyes, and see all the love in the world mirrored back in them. Alison hoped so hard for a happy ending. She just hoped that Emily would wait for her.

'Wait for me to come home, Em' she whispered to herself, her voice breaking as her eyes began to tear up as she took one last, long look at Emily before turning away into the darkness, that one tiny photograph still clasped tight in her hand.


End file.
